Dave Cooper

Lore & Background

Dave Cooper was born in Nova Scotia on November 7, 1967 and moved to Ottawa, Ontario at age nine. He began his career in the 1990s making underground comics for Seattle's Fantagraphics Books. During the production of Batman: The Animated Series, he created numerous pieces of widely-seen promotional art based on Bruce Timm’s designs that are still used on licensed products. His periodical Weasel won both the underground Ignatz Award and the Harvey Award in 2000. His psycho-erotic graphic novel Ripple sported an introduction by David Cronenberg.

At the turn of the century, Cooper morphed into an oil painter, showing alternately at galleries in Los Angeles and New York City. He had a large retrospective of his comicbook artwork in Angouleme and Paris in 2002. Monographs of his paintings included introductions by comedian David Cross and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Around 2008, he turned to animation, getting two original kids TV shows greenlit: Pig Goat Banana Cricket for Nickelodeon and The Bagel and Becky Show for Teletoon/BBC, though he was not involved in the latter show’s production. His short adult film The Absence of Eddy Table was released in 2015 and won a number of awards internationally.

In summer 2017, Cooper returned to oil painting for his largest gallery show to date—70 paintings for Paris 2020—and completed his largest single commission for a Madrid museum: a 13-foot-wide piece inspired by Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. In 2019, a French publisher released Pillowy, the Art of Dave Cooper, a 300-page English/French retrospective. That same year, he joined the board of directors of Ottawa’s Saw Gallery. Cooper lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Reader's Guide

Dave Cooper's significance lies in his cross-medium career spanning underground comics, oil painting, and animation. His comic series Weasel earned both the Ignatz and Harvey Awards in 2000, marking him as a notable figure in alternative comics. His graphic novel Ripple, with an introduction by David Cronenberg, exemplifies his psycho-erotic style. Cooper's transition to oil painting brought gallery shows in Los Angeles and New York, and monographs introduced by David Cross and Guillermo del Toro. In animation, he created the Nickelodeon series Pig Goat Banana Cricket and co-created The Bagel and Becky Show, though he was not involved in the latter's production. His short film The Absence of Eddy Table won international awards. Cooper's 2017 return to painting included a 70-piece show for Paris 2020 and a large Madrid museum commission. The 2019 retrospective Pillowy, the Art of Dave Cooper and his board membership at Ottawa's Saw Gallery underscore his ongoing influence in Canadian arts. His work demonstrates versatility across visual storytelling forms, from underground comics to mainstream animation and fine art.

Did You Know?

• Cooper's periodical Weasel won both the Ignatz Award and the Harvey Award in 2000.
• His graphic novel Ripple featured an introduction by filmmaker David Cronenberg.
• Cooper created promotional art for Batman: The Animated Series based on Bruce Timm’s designs.
• In 2019, a French publisher released a 300-page English/French retrospective of his work titled Pillowy, the Art of Dave Cooper.

From Nickelodeon to the Jedi Order

Before his name became synonymous with Star Wars, Filoni built his craft across a string of animated television projects. He worked as a storyboard artist and assistant director on shows including King of the Hill, Teamo Supremo, and Kim Possible. His breakthrough arrived with Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, where he served as director and storyboard artist. He helmed eight of season one's twenty episodes, including both the series premiere, "The Boy in the Iceberg," and the second part of the season finale's "The Siege of the North" arc. Beyond his own directing work, Filoni played a quiet but pivotal role in shaping the show's creative direction. He introduced co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino to Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, an encounter Konietzko later called an "awakening and a turning point" that reshaped his understanding of anime and pushed him toward more ambitious storytelling. It was this body of work that ultimately caught George Lucas's eye, setting Filoni on a path he initially dismissed as a prank call from his Nickelodeon colleagues, who loved to tease him about his well-known Star Wars enthusiasm.

Building The Clone Wars Universe

In 2005, George Lucas personally recruited Filoni to Lucasfilm Animation to help establish the studio and develop what would become Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The resulting animated series, which ran from 2008 to 2020, became an Emmy Award-winning phenomenon spanning seven seasons and more than one hundred episodes. Filoni's involvement was comprehensive: he co-created, directed, wrote, and executive produced the show. He served as director of the 2008 animated feature film and supervising director of the series. Among his most enduring contributions were the development of characters Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex, figures who would go on to anchor multiple subsequent Star Wars properties. Filoni also lent his voice to the bounty hunter Embo across various episodes. His deep personal connection to the franchise was visible in his office, documented in Clone Wars DVD extras, which was decorated with Plo Koon memorabilia including a bust, a ship model, an autographed portrait, a replica lightsaber, and his own Jedi costume. In February 2009, the 501st Legion inducted him as an Honorary Member in recognition of his contributions to the saga.

Expanding the Galaxy and Rising to the Top

Filoni's creative footprint expanded dramatically beyond The Clone Wars. He went on to create The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi, and served as executive producer on Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance, Forces of Destiny, Skeleton Crew, and Maul – Shadow Lord. His role in Rebels was particularly deep: he co-produced the series alongside Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg, served as supervising director for the first two seasons, and returned for the fourth season after stepping back in 2016 to oversee all Lucasfilm Animation projects. In the live-action era, he co-created The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and on Ahsoka he served not only as executive producer but as the show's sole writer. In 2023, Lucasfilm elevated him to Chief Creative Officer, a role granting him creative oversight over every upcoming film and television project in the franchise. Then in January 2026, Filoni was announced as president of Lucasfilm alongside co-president Lynwen Brennan, succeeding Kathleen Kennedy and cementing his position as the studio's highest creative authority.

The Lucas Legacy and Personal Influences

Few figures in modern filmmaking can claim a decade-long apprenticeship under a genre-defining auteur, yet that is precisely the relationship Filoni shared with George Lucas. Lucas personally hired and mentored him, and widely regarded him as the torchbearer for the original Star Wars vision. Even after Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, Lucas intended for Filoni to remain a central creative pillar of the franchise, a testament to the depth of their professional bond. Beyond the studio walls, Filoni's creative sensibility was shaped by his upbringing in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb. His father was a devoted fan of opera and classical music, a passion Filoni inherited. That musical background proved unexpectedly relevant on the job: composer Kevin Kiner, who scored most of The Clone Wars and Rebels, credited Filoni with suggesting the organ in Grand Admiral Thrawn's theme from Rebels. Filoni's educational foundation came from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his animation degree in 1996 after graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School in 1992, giving him the technical grounding that would carry him from storyboard rooms to the presidency of one of Hollywood's most storied studios.